The Trouble With Stacey
by thestockholmaffair
Summary: Stacey, now 16, has been secretly dating her old substitute teacher Wesley Ellenburg, but one night at the Johannsen's their happiness is threatened by a terrible accident... Medium level sexual content, drug use and coarse language. Comments please!
1. Chapter 1

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 1**

'Now be very, very quiet…' I whispered, closing the Johanssen's big wooden front door behind us. Let me explain; us is me and my boyfriend, Wes. I've always known him as Wes even though he used to be my teacher only three years ago. That's right, my teacher! Well substitute teacher anyway. My name's Stacey McGill and I first met Wesley Ellenburg in Maths class when I was thirteen and we flirting started almost immediately. At first he was loathe to start a relationship (I love that expression, loathe, it means not wanting to) but at the start of this year we started seeing each other secretly. It has to be secret - he's twenty five!

We tippy-toed our way into the Johanssen's living room. This was incredibly risky. It's hard to maintain a secret relationship when you're fifteen and we'd resorted to meeting at my Baby Sitters Club jobs. At first it was all very chaste but recently we'd started performing sex acts on each other. It's funny, all us girls at the BSC (that stands for Baby Sitter's Club of which I'm a member, but more about that later) have become sexually active at around the same time. Apparently, even Mary Anne went and visited Logan in the middle of the night and they've been fooling around. She says she might even loose her virginity to him soon. Even the ugliest member of BSC, little Mallory Pike performed oral sex on her cousin last summer. She's also the weirdest member- she carries a photo of his penis in her handbag!

Anyway, I knew we didn't have much time before Dr. Johanssen came home so I wanted to start right away. I let my fingers slide down to Wes's crotch and I teased him in what I hoped would be a provocative manner.

'Oh my fucking god you're so hot!' he said, speaking as loudly as he dared. I loved it when he talked dirty to me. I started unbuttoning his tight black shirt desperately wanting to rub my hands over his hard abdominal muscles.

'Oh Stacey, I love how you're so sophisticated and always know which outfits to wear…' he whispered. Somehow Wes always knows what to say to get me horny. I could feel the familiar warm and wet sensation spread in between my legs. His shirt now off, my concentration focussed on his penis. I unzipped his jeans and eased his erection out of his pants. I was by now quite practised at the routine and felt quite at ease kneeling down and taking his member in my mouth.

'Oh fuck me!' Charlotte Johanssen's unmistakable voice cut the air like a knife. I immediately stopped what I was doing and turned to look at my eleven year old charge.

'Oh…oh… it's not what it looks like', offered Wes weakly.

'Oh really? Cos it kind of looked like you were fucking Stacey's mouth,' stated Charlotte matter-of-factly. She turned to face me. 'What do you think you are doing bringing strange men to my home, Stace? I mean besides the nymphomania problem.'

'I'm so sorry Charlotte, I'm sorry you had to see that.' It was all I could think of to say.

'I'd better be going.' uttered Wes meekly as he zipped himself up.

'No you don't buster. Ever hear of a thing called statutory rape? My mum's one thing but the law's something else.'

I couldn't believe my ears. Little Charlotte had grown a lot in the last few years but this was incredibly mature. My life started to flash before my eyes. If the police got involved Wes might go to gaol. The BSC's reputation would be ruined. I'd probably be sent to live with my dad and I'd never get to see the love of my life again. We had to keep this kid quiet.

'What do you want?' Wes had also sensed the blackmail situation we had gotten ourselves into.

'Dunno. How much do you earn, chuckles?'

'I'm a teacher, I…'

'Figures. Still no excuse for those ugly jeans. OK, I respect your profession so I'll give you a discount. Won't be cheap though. The going rate for damaging my fragile mind with your excuse for an erect cock is… oh I'd say a quarter of a million dollars.'

An expression of anger darkened Wes's face. He walked up to Charlotte in a vain attempt to intimidate her.

'That's ludicrous! I'm not gonna pay that!' Wes yelled.

'Enjoy getting but-fucked in gaol then.' smirked Charlotte.

An expletive left Wes's lips as he brought his hand down across her face. I screamed as Charlotte's head jerked backwards as she lost her footing and fell with a worryingly loud thump on the floor. I rushed over to see if she was OK.

'Oh my god what am I gonna do! I can't go to gaol!' Wes cried, his head in his hands.

I was more worried about Charlotte. I tried to pick her up but she didn't move. It was then I started to panic. She didn't appear to be breathing.

'Oh my fucking God, Wes! I think you killed her!'

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 2**

'Oh my fucking God, Wes! I think you killed her!'

'Don't be so melodramatic, Stacey,' Wes's voice wavered slightly with nervousness.

'No, I'm for real,' I was now checking Charlotte's pulse, 'you've gotta call an ambulance. She's not breathing and I can't get a pulse. Quick, Wes call an ambulance!'

'We can't! I'll go to gaol!' Wes whined. I was definitely beginning to be less attracted to him. I've always thought whining was an ugly quality in a man. However, I could kinda understand his position. I mean I couldn't begin to explain to Dr. Johanssen that my older boyfriend had beaten her daughter to death after blackmailing us to the tune of $250,000.

'What are we gonna do then?' I figured that Wes might have some brilliant plan to get us out of this mess. After all he is the smartest person I know, except maybe for Claudia's sister Janine. She's a true genius with an IQ of 196! I suddenly had the brilliant idea of calling her, but before I could suggest it, Wes spoke.

'Kidnapping. It's the only way. We'll have to fake a kidnapping and then dump the body somewhere. I can then make some ransom demands to throw them off the trail. After that we'll just leave it and… just forget about it.' As he spoke he paced back and forth in front of me, wringing his hands. I had to admit it was a pretty good plan. It was weird but I was feeling strangely calm about the whole situation. I think it was probably shock. Usually if anything happened to one of my charges I would be really upset, especially Charlotte. This time though, my mind was fully concentrating on the situation at hand.

'The Stone's farm! Near Mary Anne and Dawn's. It's the best place to bury a body!' I exclaimed. Wes agreed, we had once gone out there and dry humped in one of the paddocks after school. It was on the outskirts of town, near the cemetery and it was pretty rural.

'OK, I'll bury the body and you'll have to stage a kidnap scene,' continued Wes 'Wait until after I've left and break a window in the girl's room. Do it from the outside making sure the glass falls into the room. Then call the police and make up a story about a guy kidnapping the girl. Make it vague, average height, average weight. Say it happened too quick.' He sounded incredibly professional, almost as though he'd done it before.

I nodded, taking all it all in. I then helped Wes lift Charlotte's body to his car parked on the nature strip outside. My heart beat faster as we made our way to the Toyota Corolla. I quickly went and checked to make sure no-one was watching. It was dark and there was not a soul to be seen so I quickly gave Wes the all clear. I opened the boot and we quickly shoved the body inside. Charlotte was small so her body fitted in without a problem.

'OK, I'd better go. Don't forget to call the police.' As he spoke Wes motioned for me to go back inside. I was about to do just that when I had a brainwave.

'Wes, can you hit me? To make it look like I struggled with the kidnapper?'

'Are you sure?' Wes sounded concerned. I nodded and without another word he brought his hand up and struck me as hard as he could in the face. The pain was instant and it was all I could do not to cry out. I'd never been hit by a boy before and it made me feel angry, even though poor Wes had only done what I'd asked of him. A tear ran down my cheek.

'I'm so sorry. I love you Stace.' Wes kissed me lightly on the lips. Once again he signalled for me to go back to the house. I ran back and paused at the front door. I turned around just in time to see Wes's car disappear around the corner.

It was then that I felt truly helpless for the first time in my life.

_To be continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 3**

'Calm down, miss. Just tell us what happened.' said the policeman. I had worked myself into hysterics so as to make everything sound believable. I tried not to notice how handsome the policeman was as I told him the story about the kidnapper. He had the deepest, brownest eyes I'd ever seen. The policeman, I mean, not the kidnapper! Even his name was sexy - Senior Constable Musgrove. Mmm, sexy.

'So you came into the bedroom and the man was dragging the Johnanssen girl away?' he asked.

I nodded. I couldn't tell if he believed me or not. For the hundredth time I wished I was with my friends. Especially Claudia.

Claudia Kishi is my best friend in the whole world. She's cool and a great artist and she even designs some of her own clothes. She's Japanese-American so she's really hot, and we even shared a brief affair before I started going out with Wes. Lesbianism wasn't for me though, however Claudia's recently been sleeping with a girl doing fashion at the local community college. I was jealous at first but she explained that nothing could come between our friendship.

Kristy is the president of the BSC. She's a great friend too, but sometimes a little too serious for me and Claud. She also has really terrible dress sense. She usually wears just jeans, sneakers and really ugly sweaters. Sometimes I wonder if she's a lesbian too! And its not as if she can't afford nice clothes either, her mum married a real life millionaire and they live in a mansion. Talk about lucky!

Speaking of frustrated lesbians, we've got another friend called Dawn Schafer who Claud and I refer to as TDH or 'The Dirty Hippie'. A couple or years ago she was almost bearable, into health food and recycling but still pretty cool. Now she's just a freak. For example her style used to be what we called Californian Casual. Now she only wears hemp (and I'm pretty sure smokes it too). And she's a vegan. She also uses this diaper arrangement instead of tampons (ew!) which is just gross.

Oh yeah, and she doesn't bathe regularly and she's cultivating a head of dreadlocks. Not the cool ones that black people have but the ones that come from not washing your hair for twelve months. She's also so incompetent that we had to make her the Alternate Officer which is one of those job titles that doesn't actually mean anything.

Dawn's best friend is Mary-Anne who I was talking about earlier. That's Mary-Anne Spier our secretary. She's known for being quiet and conservative and she's also known for having a long-term boyfriend Logan Bruno, who's a babysitter, and associate member. I'm the one who convinced Mary-Anne to sneak through Logan's window in the middle of the night to have sex with him. It's been a long time coming but now she talks of nothing else. Mary-Anne the sex fiend – who would have thought?

We've got some other friends who aren't proper members of the club like Logan because they're either too masculine, too black, too ugly or all three. So that's the club, not perfect but they're my friends.

'So you came into the bedroom and the man was dragging the Johanssen girl away?' asked Senior Constable Musgrove.

'Yes, and it had nothing to do with Wesley Ellenberg. I haven't see him for years.' I blurted out. I suddenly realised that might sound weird. I smiled weakly at the police officer as he raised his right eyebrow.

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 4**

"Wesley who in the what-now?" asked Senior Constable Musgrove.

I panicked. I had just mentioned my secret boyfriend's name for no good reason.

"Um.. ah… I said what ever happened to… ah, Glen Wesley? You know, the hockey player?"

I'm pretty tall for a girl, but the officer must have been at least 6'4". He peered down at me with his deep brown eyes.

"Oh, I believe he is the Director of Development for Defensemen at the Carolina Hurricanes," he said knowledgeably.

"Oh really? You're so smart!"

I know what you're thinking but flirting is a good tip if you want to make boys forget what they're doing. I pushed out my chest and gave my hair a flick. It seemed to do the trick.

"Yeah, you know I was gonna study sports psychology at college but I didn't get in," he said in what was a clear attempt to impress me. He stood there beaming for a second before suddenly looking back at his police-issue notebook.

"So," he asked, tapping his pen "when exactly did he hit you in the face?'" Unfortunately he was being all business-like again, but the good thing was he'd forgotten all about Wes. Thanks to my flirting skills!

"Well that was just before he left. He dragged Charlotte away and I said 'Stop!' That's when he hit me."

Senior Constable Musgrove wrote this down carefully in his book. He asked me a few more things too, like what the kidnapper looked like. Just as Wes had advised I kept the description extremely vague. When I cried again the Senior Constable decided that I'd had enough questioning and that the ambulance staff should check me out.

They put some ice on my now swollen face and talked about me like I wasn't there. The two female paramedics had a quick conference and decided to take me to hospital. After being taken to the waiting ambulance, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur. My mind kept thinking about poor Wes burying little Charlotte's body. I was still dwelling on it when Mum came and saw me at the local hospital.

"My darling, are you OK? Oh my God, your face!" My Mum gets over-protective at the best of times, but when she senses something is going wrong she goes into overdrive. "My poor darling Stacey, are you OK?"

Sometimes I think of my emotions as though they're part of a huge contraption in a mad scientist's laboratory. There are dials everywhere, each one for a different emotion; happiness, sadness, anxiety, confusion and so on. I think if there was a dial for guilt it would have been in red when we killed Charlotte and probably from would have exploded during some point while being questioned by the police. Now, however, while I was getting sympathy from Mum after being part of a manslaughter cover up, it felt as if my guilt dial had imploded and could open a hole in the space time continuum which would threaten to destroy the universe.

"Yeah, I'm OK." I offered weakly. Mum wouldn't take that for an answer though, and was still fussing over me when Dr. Johanssen walked into my room. For whatever reason, I had completely blocked out the thought that I might have to face Charlotte's Mum. My heart was in my mouth.

"Oh Stacey," she said, almost in tears "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen!" The guilt was almost too much to bear. I couldn't believe Dr. Johanssen was apologising to me!

"No I'm sorry! I'm sorry about Charlotte, I'm… I'm…." I had to stop myself from going into too much detail. My brain kicked into gear and I just shut up. Seconds later a police officer, who I had never seen before, came to escort Dr. Johanssen away, presumably to ask some questions.

I cried some more before Mum went to get me a drink, but I must have passed out from exhaustion at some point because the last thing I remember was staring out the window into the lonely night, hoping that Wes was OK. I didn't wake up for almost 14 hours and when I did I immediately wished I could go slip back into blissful unconsciousness.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 5**

'What the fuck are you doing here!?!'

Waking up in hospital is never a nice feeling but the bewildement is amplified when you find your partner in crime hovering above you.

'Stacey, I think someone saw me last night!' he said in a half whisper, which came out a bit louder than I think he expected.

'I'm gonna repeat myself - why the fuck are you even here? C'mon Wes and grow a brain. Don't call me, don't think about me and certainly don't visit me in hospital.'

'But, Stacey I think someone saw…'

'Get. Out. Now! And don't contact me until I say!'

Without another word, he left. Thank god. It really got me thinking though – what if someone had seen him bury the body? It was a worrying thought, and one I couldn't get out of my head for the whole day. Soon I was home and Mum continued her fussing as though I had chicken pox or something and by the time 5.30 came around I had had enough. I used my charisma and convinced Mum that 'it would help me come to terms with things' if I went to the BSC meeting. She reluctantly agreed.

I was running ten minutes late by the time I knocked on Claudia's door and was surprised when Logan answered my knock. I was surprised because Logan doesn't usually come to meetings because he's a boy and an associate member. It's a good thing too because ever since he and Mary-Anne have become sexually active they haven't kept their hand off each other. There was a particularly nasty rumour going around a few months ago that they had sex in a school classroom! It sounded pretty legit and was pretty plausible when I told it.

'Stacey!' Logan already sounds pretty dopey because of his southern accent but I think it was the surprised tone in his voice that made him sound like a prize idiot. 'We didn't expect to see you here today.'

'Well here I am. What's your story?'

Before he had a chance to explain, Mary-Anne stuck her head around the door. She explained that they had decided to dedicate the BSC meeting to discuss how to support me. It made me feel guilty, flattered and annoyed in equal measures. Guilty for killing Charlotte, flattered that my friends cared so much and annoyed because it confirmed my fears that everyone at school must be talking about me. It's funny because its not like people don't talk about me at school, its just that usually it runs along the lines of 'Have you seen what Stacey is wearing today, she is so amazing!' or 'That Stacey is so sophisticated, I wish I could be like her!'

This was different.

The surprise of seeing Logan at Claud's however was nothing compared to being a part of what was undoubtedly the weirdest BSC meeting ever. I knew it would be weird the moment I walked in. It more resembled a slumber party than a meeting. Claudia and Jessi were giggling in the corner munching greedily at a plate of brownies. Mallory was plying her red tangle of hair with generous globs of hair gel, all the time staring vacantly into the mirror, while Dawn, who as usual looked like she hadn't washed in a week, had her eyes closed and back against the left stereo speaker It was pumping out the unmistakable sounds of hip-hop outfit Cypress Hill disconcerting, both because we rarely had music on during meetings and when we did it rarely had swearing in it.

It was Kristy however who really captured my attention. She was wearing nothing but an old leather deerstalker cap and her 'Hello Kitty' panties. That's right. For all intents and purposes she was stark naked. She was waving her black brassiere around her head while jumping up and down on Claud's bed.

"Oh my Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhdddd. I can actually feel the music! It's like its coming out of my brain!!!" she screeched.

I turned to Mary-Anne and Logan who looked vaguely embarrassed. I raised my eyebrows, literally speechless.

"Kristy was getting all stressed about the reputation of the BSC and Dawn just wanted to calm her down. Her brownies really did the trick,' she said before lowering her voice to a whisper, 'but I think there might be drugs in them.'

'You think?' I was dumbfounded. This place would fall apart without me.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 6**

I stood there watching the orgy of teenage illegality, my mouth literally open with amazement. The sound of the stereo blaring, a cacophony of giggly adolescent girls combined with Kristy professing her love for all things at the top of her voice meant that I was getting an instant headache.

I walked over and calmly turned off the stereo.

'SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP. NOW!!!!'

This move was surprisingly effective and everyone turned to look at me. Kristy, clearly drug-affected, spoke first.

'So, so, so, so, so… sorry… Stacey.' she drawled, clearly having trouble with her words, 'I fuckin' think you are so great. I don't… even care. …that you lost a kid 'cos I fuckin' love ya. I just fuckin'' LOVE yoooouuuu !!!!'

'Well that's lovely Kristy, thanks for that.' I said dismissively, 'Now everyone is too high to do anything today so I'm dismissing this meeting. C'mon everyone, just go home, go straight to your bedrooms and chill the fuck out. Don't let your parents see you, have a coffee if you need one and seriously, just chill out. Oh yeah, and Dawn, don't bring your brownies to any more meetings. I can't believe you did that, it's just so fucking irresponsible.'

I gestured at Mallory to make my point. She was starting to babble something about Mary-Anne and Logan being in the CIA.

'Hey don't you fucking chastise Dawn! Those brownies were both thoughtful _and _delicious. Dawn may be a dirty hippie,' there was a lethargic protest from Dawn which Kristy ignored, 'but at least she doesn't let her charges get kidnapped and quite possibly…. get murdered…yes murdered!, in hideous, hideous ways!'

The back of my neck was getting prickly and hot. Kristy had overstepped the mark (even though she was kinda right about Charlotte being murdered). I knew I should just defuse the situation but I finally had had enough of her rich-girl lifestyle.

I just snapped!

'Fuck you, you ugly scrag! You… you…. fucking stinking period stain!'

Kristy eyes suddenly darkened and she ripped of the deerstalker, which, incredibly, made her more naked. Quite an achievement, really. I was still contemplating this when she launched herself at me from the bed. I was caught slightly off guard and I found myself gasping for a breath on the floor while Kristy pummelled me from above. Kristy's really athletic and even drugged out on dope-cookies she was still getting some good punches in.

I've never been in a fight but I've seen a couple at school and this one was as good as any I've witnessed. My dad would have called this one a knock-down-drag-out scrap. Claudia was scratching at Kristy and screaming obscenities, while Dawn threw Nancy Drew novels at their angry owner. One accidently struck Kristy fair in the nose and that just made her crazy.

As for Mallory, well Mary Anne later told me that she just socked Logan in the face for no reason, causing Mary Anne to defend him in a pretty spirited way. Now I might be cynical but I'd say it was probably 'cos Mallory was suffering acute paranoia due to drug use. At some point Jessi must have been collected by a stray hand or foot because after I tore myself away from Kristy I noticed she was taking swings in all directions. This combined with Logan trying to break everyone up lead to absolute chaos.

Finally due to fatigue more than anything else, everyone retreated to different corners of the room. Clothes were ripped and there was a fair bit of blood too. Kristy looked the worst, she had a blood nose and it was running into her mouth making her look really gruesome.

'Fuck you all! You're all out of the club! I fuckin' hate all of you!' she screamed.

'Shut up Kristy you fuckwit! Everyone just get the hell out of my bedroom!' yelled Claudia, her black hair in an absolute mess and with a huge welt under her left eye.

'Fine! I will!' spat Kristy. She slipped her green T-Shirt back on, collected the rest of her clothes and stormed out. Before she exited she turned and shot Claudia some daggers. 'I'm glad the club's finished. Too many ugly, lesbian, borderline illiterate, fuckin' slanty-eyed Japs! Fuck you all!'

After that we all slowly filed out, not knowing where to look, no-one was on speaking terms at this stage. I had a lot to think about on the way home. It was hard not to conclude that my life was going down the toilet. Basically I was a criminal and this latest development had left me without friends.

I snuck inside and changed ready for dinner. I came down the stairs and took my place at the table, already deciding not to tell mum about the fight. She smiled at me, assuming that I had had fun seeing my friends and paused to hand me something.

'Someone dropped this in the letterbox for you my dear.' she said. Intrigued I opened the envelope, which had my first name typed on the front. Inside was a single piece of note paper.

Four words of type stared at me, turning my blood cold. It read:

I SAW IT ALL

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter 7

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 7**

I couldn't sleep. How could I? Someone had seen me kill Charlotte.

Different scenarios ran through my head, mostly involving me going to jail or youth detention facility. I got myself a drink of water and realised I had been standing in the one spot in the bathroom for at least ten minutes. What would they do to someone as sophisticated as me in jail? I wouldn't last one minute.

I decided that in the morning I would call the police before Wes had a chance to. He was the one who deserved to go to jail not me! I instantly felt better and turned for bed. Closing the door behind me I looked to see a ghostly pale face staring at me from outside the window. I dropped my glass of water in shock and it spilt all over the carpet, dark fingers of moisture stretching out under the bed.

It was Mary Anne.

I knew for a fact that Mary Anne was an expert at sneaking out at night, satisfying her seemingly endless sexual needs by going to see Logan at least three nights a week. But this was the first time that she had visited me and judging by her facial expression it didn't look like a social visit. I reluctantly slid open the window and she skilfully climbed through.

'Fuck you,' she hissed.

I noticed Mary Anne was wearing her famous-cities skirt and an old sweatshirt that possibly could have been her Dad's. We had long since told Mary Anne not to wear the skirt in public anymore, it was too old, tattered, outdated, stained and above all _smelly_ to be considered fashionable but evidently she still wore it when sneaking out at 2 AM. She also held a piece of paper and a pair of red panties in her hand.

'Nice to see you too Mary Anne.'

'You fuckin' SLUT! Did you fuck him, or just give him blowjobs?' Mary Anne was borderline hysterical and I was worried that she would wake my parents.

'What are you talking about Mary Anne?' I asked calmly.

'Logan of course! You're fucking him aren't you?'

'Of course not, I don't fuck dopey hillbillies. No offense.'

'But I saw him Stacey! I saw him put this in your letterbox. And I found your panties in his car.' Mary Anne threw both the obviously used red panties and an envelope at my face in disgust. I managed to catch them both in one swift movement.

'These aren't mine! They're fuckin' size 12 for a start. That's fuckin' insulting Mary…'

I trailed off after seeing the envelope. It was exactly the same cheap white paper as the envelope that contained the 'I SAW IT ALL' message.

'Mary Anne? Did you say you saw Logan put this in my letterbox?' I asked.

'Yeah why?'

I quickly tore open the envelope and sure enough the familiar black typed capital letters stared back at me.

**I WILL CONTACT THE POLICE UNLESS I RECEIVE $10,000 IN USED, UNMARKED BILLS. PLACE THE MONEY IN A BROWN PAPER BAG AND PUT IT IN YOUR LETTERBOX ON THURSDAY NIGHT.**

I realised that Mary Anne was still staring at me. I made the snap decision to show her the note. She read it and looked at me, confusion written all across her face.

'Your boyfriend is blackmailing me because I've been doing… you know… sex things with Wes.' I said coyly.

'Wes? You mean Mr. Ellenberg?'

I told her all about how Wes and I had hooked up but I left out all the stuff about killing Charlotte. Mary Anne was calmer now, but was still shocked that Logan was a blackmailer and judging by the ugly red panties, couldn't keep his dick in this trousers either.

'Who is Logan really fucking then?' asked Mary Anne, 'I can't understand it, I mean I'm keeping him busy just about every night of the week!'

A thought struck me.

'Well what about last night? We know where he was then,' I offered.

'You mean…. Dr. Johanssen?' Mary Anne screwed up her nose.

'I'd say that ugly bitch looks like a size 12.'

'I'm gonna fucking kill them both,' whispered Mary Anne, her eyes widening into an intense and furious look.

'Really?'

This _was_ an interesting development.

_To be continued..._


	8. Chapter 8

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 8**

I know what you're thinking. Murder isn't nice. Well neither is blackmail, and I've never liked Logan anyway. Last year I went to the Halloween Hop as Holly Golightly from _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ and he said I looked 'fine'. Can you believe that? Fine? I looked AMAZING thankyou very much.

'Wow Logan, look at Stacey, doesn't she look so sophisticated?' said Mary Anne that night, outside the SMS hall.

'Me, sophisticated? Well maybe if I wasn't having such a bad hair day!' I smiled in mock modesty.

'You look fine,' came that familiar Kentucky drawl.

Fine? What an understatement. Fuck you Logan. I should have had him knee-capped for that. I looked at Mary Anne pacing my bedroom in her filth-encrusted outfit. Her eye twitched noticeably and for the first time I actually questioned her sanity. She certainly looked like a mad woman. But that might be used to my advantage.

'Mary Anne, I want you to think carefully before you answer this next question.' I paused for dramatic effect. 'Do you want to kill Logan?'

'No,' said Mary Anne picking up a curling iron from my bedside table 'I want to burn his genitals and then kill him.'

Close enough.

It was certainly a risk to include another person in our murder conspiracy but we needed to find some weapons. Mallory was the obvious choice as lately she had begun to talk about her new hobby of sharpening knives. From the way she talked it seemed to be verging on a sexual fetish.

After school the next day Mary Anne, still in the grip of homicidal rage judging by her pressured speech, and I knocked on the Pike's door. Mallory answered.

'Oh my god I'm so sorry for the other day!' She grabbed Mary Anne and me tightly around the shoulders in an uncomfortable hug, obviously apologetic about the drug-fuelled club meeting.

'Hey, no sweat Mal!' I was conscious of the fact that we might be seen and I wanted to go inside.

'Can we come in?'

Mallory took us to her room and I was not prepared for what I saw.

The first thing I noticed about Mal's room is how dark it was. All the walls and ceiling were painted black and heavy velvet curtains covered the solitary window. Candles were the only source of light, several of which were in the far corner of the room. As our eyes adjusted a strange smell also intensified.

The room definitely had a weird odour. It took a second to identify but seemed to be a mixture of Play-Doh, girl's deodorant and gasoline. The longer we stayed the stronger the smell became. I took a step inside and my eyes were drawn to the candles. It seemed to be part of an elaborate shrine, photos and books staring back, all featuring a man's face, eyes burnt out with what looked like cigarette holes. I instantly recognised the subject of the shrine.

Dr. Phil.

The television show host seemed to be taking an unhealthy amount of Mallory's attention. I noticed one phrase daubed in bright red paint above me, in contrast to the black walls; 'THIS IS GONNA BE A CHANGING DAY IN YOUR LIFE'. The words had obviously dripped slightly before drying and were such a hue that they held a worrying resemblance to blood.

I swore silently in my head. My mind had begun to turn over. The plan had been to ask Mallory for some weapons but it seemed that she was at least as crazy as Mary Anne. Perhaps, then, she could be used in a more direct way?

'Hey Mal, do you like Dr. Phil?'

'Oh my gosh! I'm Dr. Phil's disciple; I would do anything for the Great Man. He is beautiful, a beautiful soul!'

'Hey that's really cool, cos Mary Anne and I really like Dr. Phil too, although probably not quite as much as you.' Mallory beamed when she heard this.

'But you know Logan? Well he said Dr. Phil was an ugly, bald jerk-off who gave bad advice. He even said a PhD means you're not a real doctor.'

'HE IS A REAL DOCTOR!' Mallory screamed.

'Yeah, well we were going to go kill Logan anyway. You want to help?'

Mallory nodded. The glint in her eye was truly disturbing. This was making Mary Anne look like a pussycat.

'Cool, ' I said, 'now do you remember telling us about your knife collection?'

'Oh Stace, forget knives. This joker deserves the best.'

Mallory pulled a very long, very dusty chest from under her bed. She took a key from around her neck and unlocked the ancient padlock. Mary Anne and I peered inside.

It contained two familiar-looking weapons. I'd seen them in almost every action film although I had no idea of the name. They were huge, black and dangerous.

'AK-47s' whispered Mal.

Mary Anne and I looked at each other. We spoke in unison.

'Fuck.'

Of course having two AK-47s under your bed seemed strange but then if any 14-year-old girl were to have them it would have to be Mallory Pike. She was just bizarre. From her rumoured sexual behaviour and poor dress sense to the horror-themed artwork she produced at school, everything about her was shocking. However unlike my friends I didn't think Mallory's behaviour was designed to shock, I think that's just the way she was. I suspected it had something to do with her parents who seemed to breed with ferocious regularity.

So there I was, lying in a field at the Stones' farm close to midnight with Mallory by my side. I had once again decided to use this deserted area for our crime, Charlotte's body, according to Wes was buried not far from where we lay. Wes had tried to call me again the night before, but I had brushed him off. I hoped he would get the hint. Maybe we would resurrect the relationship after things had quietened down but it was still too unsafe. Too be honest I didn't miss him too much

We were all dressed all in black, which is usually a very flattering colour for me but for me this time it was just sweat pants and a U4Me T-Shirt. The fashion another reason I hoped no one would see us, besides the equally worrying fact that we were about to kill Logan Bruno.

Mary Anne had spun a very convincing tale of potential sex to lure Logan here, although he was about ten minutes late. Mary Anne, it was decided, would be the bait, armed with a huge knife 50 yards away, we lay in wait, our enormous semi-automatic weapons at the ready. I checked my watch; 15 minutes late.

_C'mon Logan_. I was about to say something to Mal when a familiar car drove up the driveway. This was it. I smiled at Mal who whispered in barely audible tone.

'Not a real doctor, huh? Let's fuck this guy up.'

._..TO BE CONTINUED_


	9. Chapter 9

**The Trouble With Stacey - Chapter 9**

My shoulders ached from where the ammo clip rested around me like a beauty pageant sash. I watched Logan get out of the car and saunter toward Mary Anne. Her back was toward us and from this angle we could see the knife glint in the moonlight. I held my breath.

Logan did deserve to die I reasoned. He cheated on Mary Anne with Dr. Johansson, and while attempting a bootycall had witnessed a manslaughter and so decided to blackmail me! What a jerk!

I didn't feel in the least bit bad. Well maybe a little. Perhaps we shouldn't have involved Mallory, with that hastily made-up Dr. Phil story. I turned to her.

'I'm sorry Mal.' I offered. She just smiled at me and readied her gun, not understanding the meaning of my words.

My shoulders were in agony now. My arms tingled in anticipation. Or was it something else?

'I heard my T-Shirt rip suddenly as the agony gave way to relief. I sensed what was happening. Wings were literally unfolding from my back in a feeling close to ecstasy.

My wingspan was massive, these things were pretty rad. It was a mental relief even more than physical relief. I could fly. I didn't have to kill Logan, I didn't have to go to prison or even fuck Wes anymore. All I had to do was fly.

'Nice wings Stacey' Mallory shouted over the sound of me beating my beautiful black feathers.

'Cheers Mal' I cried, tears streaming down my face.

I fired my AK-47 into the night sky.

Flying over Logan and Mary Anne I heard the words that made me happiest of all.

'Nice work Stace, you look real sophisticated.'

And so I did.

THE END


End file.
